This article will explain how you can reduce the price of your chinking from $10,000 to $12,000 down to just a measly $500. First some basic information about chinking:

What is chinking?

Chinking is the material that fills the gap between logs in a log home.

A properly built Scandinavian Chinkless style of log home will have no chinking at all (thus the name ‘Scandinavian Chink-less’ rather than “Scandinavian Chinked”).

The Saddle Notch, Butt and Pass, and Dovetail (or Appalachian style) will all have chinking.

The most common chinking materials are:

Synthetic, petrochemical based, log caulk

Mortar chinking

Do all log homes get chinking?

Virtually all log homes are chinked.

Yes, even ‘chinkless’ log homes usually have some form of chinking. That’s because it’s hard to find a craftsman using the old tradition of real form-fitting notchwork. And rarely do commercial builders properly air season their logs due to time constraints. So it’s common for little gaps to develop over time that require chinking, and often they are just chinked from the start.

Most full scribe and kit log homes end up using a synthetic chinking product. It would be hard to use mortar on those styles of construction due to such things as chink zone height, log movement, and settling.

A trade saying

“Every chinkless log home, is a chinker waiting to happen!”

Translation: eventually you get gaps, so you have to chink anyways 🙁

Some styles of log construction were designed to accept chinking, such as a saddle notch, dovetail or Skip style Butt and Pass. Our log home building class focuses on Skip style Butt and Pass. Some LHBA students like to use synthetic chinking, but most use mortar.

Some reasons why mortar is so popular with the DIY crowd:

Mortar saves you thousands of dollars versus synthetic!

You can easily save up to $10,000 to $12,000 when building a family sized log home — just by using mortar rather than synthetic chinking. Here is a real life example:

One of our members recently posted in our forum that his neighbor spent $12,000 dollars on chinking a log cabin kit with a synthetic product. That same member is spent just $450 to chink his real Butt and Pass log home with mortar (no, that is not a typo). Our student saved about $11,550, simply by using the Association’s mortar chinking techniques.

Mortar is low maintenance!

There is a lot of erroneous information about mortar chinking. People claim it’s high maintenance, drafty, crumbles, etc. That is all false.

Just use a well tested mortar recipe, and well honed application instructions, and mortar chinking is the best performing, strongest most longest lasting option available. Here is a real example of what mortar chinking should look like after 50 years if the right recipe and application techniques were used (click to enlarge)

Essentially, it looks just like it did right after it was applied. There is no visible deterioration. There are no gaps, cracks, or drafts. This home went through several earthquakes (the highest being a 6.8) and the chinking wasn’t damaged at all. Clearly mortar is an affordable, viable chinking material.

Mortar is fire resistant!

Seriously, this is an important one. If you ever have a house fire remember that synthetic chinking is PETROchemical based. Petro is short for petroleum (aka: gas, oil). That means the fire can become larger, very quick. it also means the fire puts out noxious chemicals and thicker black smoke (compared to natural wood).

The above photo is of fire damage done to a log wall. Notice the chinking is virtually undamaged. The fire burned for over 60 minutes! All the homeowner needs to do was scrub the chinking (done), sand the logs and apply some stain. Now that’s a winning combo: FULL LOG CONSTRUCTION + TRADITIONAL MORTAR CHINKING. Those old timers may have known a thing or two 😉

If the builder had used synthetic chinking, derived from crude oil, then the damage could have been much more severe. .

Which is best, mortar or synthetic?

That’s hard to say — any answer to that question would only be an opinion. At our log home building class we share all the pros and cons of the different materials and really explain the differences. We also give our time tested mortar recipe and installation tips.

There are some concrete reasons why mortar will actually last longer than synthetic chinking (no pun intended). It’s easier to apply, minimizes potential water damage, requires no specialty tools to apply, et cetera. which makes it DIY friendly.

Warning about mortar chinking:

If you know what you are doing, then using traditional mortar chinking is extremely easy and can save you thousands of dollars.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, using mortar chinking can be a major headache that costs you tons of money and wasted time.

It’s really frustrating when you have to do work 2x to fix the mistakes you made the first time.

Learn how to do it right, before you start!

Don’t worry, our log home class shows you the best way to do mortar chinking. The class cost is just $795, which pays for itself many times over because it shows you how to save thousands on every phase of the construction project.

Save 10k on chinking, just by using mortar. BAM! You just saved 12x more than the cost of your LHBA class!

That’s how you build a mortgage free log home! Real examples of costs, which shows how the LHBA can help you save money on almost every phase of your log home project — from foundation to roof (and everything in between).

The LHBA has taught over 40,000 people how to build log homes since 1965 and this is the kind of feedback we always get from our students.

“The cost of the class will pay for itself MANY times over, along the entire process of your build! Even if you do NOT build LHBA/Butt-n-Pass, you will gain knowledge (wisdom), that will help you all along the way.” — LHBA student AKchas (forum name)

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“The cost of the class is quickly recovered in savings on the job. Once you start thinking non-traditionally about acquiring materials, costs can really drop.

Of course, none of us can guaranty you can get your logs cheaper. That would really fall upon you. LHBA can show you the door, but you must walk through it yourself. The decision is yours.

I make no money or incentive to convince you to do so, but believe it would be in your best interest to attend the class.” — LHBA student Rreidnauer (forum name)

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“Best class I’ve ever taken!

We hope to start building our second log home in the next year or two. Built #1, lived in it for 4 great years, & recently sold it.

Knowing what I know now about everything (class, forum, LHBA in general), the class is a steal.” — LHBA student Shark (forum name)

Historic fact: In pioneer times chinking people often used Oakum (hemp fiber) or sphagnum moss as chinking. Sometimes wood itself was used as chinking in a log home — either small saplings were nailed into the gap, or small trees were quartered and nailed so the wedge was pointed into the gap between the logs.

If it’s worth building, it is worth building ‘to last,’ so here are three tips for working with pressure treated lumber.

Avoid Drying Out Your Boards

When you get your pressure treated lumber you’ll notice it is heavier than regular lumber. The exact moisture content varies, but pressure treated lumber has a high moisture content because it was recently submerged in the liquid preservative.

Unfortunately, this means that if your boards are allowed to dry out before they are nailed to a house or a deck, they will often end up significantly warped, bowed, and twisted.

ACQ treated wood requires the use of approved fasteners. There are other steps you can take that makes working with treated wood easier and safer.

To avoid the headaches caused by trying to install warped decking, most professional deck builders try to order their pressure treated lumber very close to when they need to use it. Once a board is nailed into a structure, it simply cannot warp or twist as much as it can if it’s laying around loose.

If you have to pre-order your pressure treated lumber you can still take some steps to slow down the drying-out process (to minimize warping). Simply stack the boards tightly together. That way their own weight can help pin them down and keep them straighter. And a tight stack restricts air circulation, slowing the drying process. Some people also cover the stacked lumber with a tarp, to further slow the drying process.

Handle With Caution

Pressure treated lumber is not ‘super dangerous” stuff, but it’s good to have a healthy distrust of chemicals and to take a few common sense precautions. These usually include wearing gloves, and not inhaling sawdust. Some people wear a dust mask. Some people sweep up sawdust from pressure treated lumber and deposit it into the trash. It’s always best to read and follow the precautions suggested by the manufacturer

Seal Up the Cut Ends

The pressure treatment process forces a chemical preservative into outer layers of the wood. When you cut off part of a piece of treated lumber, you’ll be able to see the darker band of chemical saturation—and you’ll see the newly exposed portion of the lighter, untreated ‘core’ wood.

After cutting treated lumber, apply brush on preservative to the end grain to protect wood at the center.

In order to protect that newly exposed part, buy a quart of the ‘End Cut Solution’ NAME and apply it with a paintbrush. (Follow the manufacturer’s safety precautions, such as wearing disposable gloves.) Some people put on two or three coats for added protection. This helps seal and preserve the cut portion—but it’s never as good as the “factory application” because only the factory can use pressure to force the solution deep into the wood.

For that reason, the “factory end” should—if you have a choice—always be the end in contact with the ground or concrete. This is an especially good trick to remember when setting porch posts. Putting the factory ends down will help ensure your posts last as long as possible.

Some people think oil production will peak very soon, so there will be less and less oil available every year. If that happens, home heating costs could skyrocket. Other people are more optimistic, thinking that oil production won’t crash until sometime after 2020 to 2030. These estimations are based on the Hubbert peak theory, and examining historic records of oil production rates (which have substantially declined over the years).

OIL! GOING, GOING, GONE! Or is it?

Even if peak oil theory is wrong, the world still faces a major energy crisis for a variety of reasons.

2.5 billion people in China and India have recently started buying cars and using home heating oil. That increasing global demand for oil.

Environmental restrictions have made it more difficult and expensive to extract oil from the ground and refine it.

Environmental regulations have also made it more difficult and expensive to transport oil around the globe.

The dollar has dropped so even if oil prices stay the same petroleum products still become more expensive to U.S. consumers.

There are many more reasons why oil costs will likely continue to increase over the next few decades. War, disease, political strife, religious strife, terrorism, etc.

If oil prices increase, then home heating costs will also increase and it makes sense to build an energy efficient log home to save money in the long term. There are many easy and fairly inexpensive things you can do to reduce heating and cooling costs:

An awesome energy efficient log home. With a heat sink floor, tons of natural light, and a windmill. Save money every year!

Build a square home because it’s the most energy efficient shape (least exposed exterior surface area to interior cubic feet).

Over insulate your ceiling and floor (also your exterior wall for a stick frame home). Code just specifies a ‘minimum’ requirement, so exceed the minimum.

Use spray in expanding foam insulation because it is very effective. It costs a bit more, but spending more on insulation upfront will help you save money forever on monthly bills.

Use larger diameter logs so you have more thermal mass in your log home. Log homes are extremely good performers in general (often performing 2.5 times better than stick frame homes), and they do even better with larger logs.

Use principles of passive heating and cooling to take advantage of the changing seasons and the sun’s heat. (a topic we cover at our log home class). Just by orienting your house properly, or planting certain trees on your property, you can greatly reduce heating and cooling costs.

Install a high quality skylight to help provide natural light in your home. Having natural light in your log home means you might use less electricity.

Augment grid power by adding an alternative power source (solar panels, micro-hydro, wind power, etc.). Often times you can get free money from the government for solar panels and wind turbines.

Use radiant floor heat, which tends to make people feel warmer while keeping the thermostat at lower temperatures.

Some LHBA students use a wood fired boiler for their radiant floor heat, or they are using a masonry stove, to keep their heating mechanism ‘off grid.’

Some LHBA students completely off grid using alternative means to supply heating and electricity, like solar and wind power.

Look at the possibility of using LEDs to meet at least some of your lighting needs, rather than fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. LEDs use a fraction of the electricity compared to traditional bulbs, and last for 20,000 to 50,000 hours of continuous use.

Recipient of a Green Building award, this log home was built by an LHBA student. It uses recycled materials, solar water heater, soy based spray foam, grey water drainage, and many other energy saving tricks

These are just a few ideas that you can use to save tons of money on heating and cooling costs.

Who knows if peak oil theory is really true, but really that hardly matters. It seems indisputable that oil costs will rise over the next 10 to 20 years no matter what, so you might as well start thinking with a peak oil mindset.

It makes sense to build your own log home that will help reduce your future heating and cooling costs. Because a properly designed and built log home can perform 2.5 times better than a stick frame home of the same size and design. Now that’s turbo charging your energy savings plan!

How do you reduce noise in a home? There are some simple steps that can really help.

No one wants to live in a log home that is too noisy. Luckily there are some easy steps one can take to transform your noisey home into a quiet house. While there are some super-expensive, sound booth quality options, let’s stick to simpler less expensive alternatives — options for real people and real log homes.

STEP 1: Structural Planning

Simply put some distance between the living areas of your home and the working areas when making your floor plan. If your “quiet areas” are further from your “noisy areas” (like putting your laundry room far away from your bedroom), then of course the noise will be less noticeable.

This solution becomes a challenge with smaller log homess, so you’ll likely want to consider some other simple anti-noise measures.

STEP 2: Optimize Dead Space

Incorporate things you must have in your log home to help minimize noise transmission between rooms — in other words, use design-based ideas to make your log house quieter.

If you strategically place your closets and cupboards, then the “dead spaces” they create will effectively muffle sounds. For instance, if you place a wall of closet space between bedrooms, that closet full of clothes or linens, prevent sound transfer between the rooms much better than just a standard stick framed common wall.

Along this same way of thinking, maybe you could locate noisy features back-to-back on the same wall. For instance, if two bathrooms share a wall, you could have the toilets back-to-back, and therefore help keep flushing noises contained to a smaller zone of the house.

Sometimes you may not have a lot of options in adjusting the floor plan, so you may want to explore economical ways to make a regular stud-wall perform better when it comes to resisting sound transmission.

STEP 3: Insulation

Some people use basic fiberglass insulation* to fill the voids between the studs in an interior stick framed wall. The fiberglass batt acts to deaden the sound-waves, so it’s harder for noise to travel from one room into the next.

If you use this technique, be sure you don’t pack the fiberglass tightly — which could actually make it EASIER for sound waves to travel through the wall. Instead simply use the standard 4 inch batting for a 2 by 4 wall, or the 6 inch batting for a 2 by 6 wall and make sure it’s packed pretty loosely.

Fiberglass was not actually designed for sound deadening, so it will not lower sound transmission by very much — but it is easy and affordable, so many people consider it a step in the right direction.

*Often people use blown in cellulose insulation, blown fiberglass, spray in expanding foam, or special fiberglass batt specifically designed to stop noise. Any of those alternatives can be a little more effective at stopping sound transmission, but they also all cost a bit more than fiberglass batt.

STEP 4: Fibreboard

Another option is to use anti-sound fiberboard, which is specifically designed to stop noise transmission. It’s slightly more expensive than the fiberglass, but it is more effective.

One brand of sound-deadening board is called “SoundStop.” It’s manufactured by Knight-Celotex and comes in 4’x8′ sheets. The sheets get attached to the studs before your drywall is hung.

They are easily cut with a utility knife or a circular saw, and should be oriented in the opposite direction of your drywall sheets. They can’t run in the same direction, because if the seams lined up then the sound-deadening ability is compromised.

This type of product is specifically designed to reduce sound transmission, so for many people it is the noise-abatement product of choice.

STEP 5: RC Channel

Another product that is specifically-designed to stop noise transfer is called ‘RC Channel.’ It’s more expensive than the fiberboard, but it is also a step up in effectiveness.

RC Channel is essentially a long strip of ‘formed metal’ that attaches to the studs (or to the anti-sound board, if you are using both) and then the the drywall is hung to the RC channel rather than directly to the 2×4 wall studs.

That creates a small area of ‘dead space’ across the entire face of the wall, inside the wall cavity, between the drywall and the studs. The dead air space is very effective at preventing sound wave transmission, so you end up with a nice quiet barrier between rooms.

There you go, five easy steps to a quiet and peaceful log home. These steps describe noise abatement options that are most frequently used by regular folks, building regular homes. You can select just one option, or combine two or more.

Pick what best fits your level of concern, and you will have a happy wallet AND happy ears in your new log home.

Learning Resources

For additional information here are some links to other articles about sound abatement:

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